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Iran has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 others since the beginning of the Middle East war, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The U.N. Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said the executions and arrests followed the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, adding that many detainees had reportedly faced forced disappearances, torture and other forms of mistreatment.
According to the OHCHR, at least nine people have been executed in connection with the protests that shook Iran in January 2026. Another 10 people were executed over alleged membership in opposition groups, while two others were put to death on spying charges, the agency said.
The U.N. said more than 4,000 people were estimated to have been arrested on national security-related grounds since the start of the war.
The OHCHR said many detainees had been subjected to forced disappearances, torture or “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”
It said abuses included forced confessions, some of them televised, as well as mock executions.
“I am appalled that—on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict—the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways,” U.N. rights chief, Volker Turk, said in a statement.
Turk called on Iranian authorities to stop further executions and establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment.
He also urged Iran to fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and to immediately release those arbitrarily detained.
Iran executes more people each year than any country except China, according to several rights groups, including Amnesty International.
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